The Lizard War Read online

  With special thanks to Tracey Turner

  TITLE PAGE

  DEDICATION

  AN OLD BOOK

  SCORPION RIDE!

  LIZARD ATTACK!

  ARMY OF BUGS

  HORNET’S-EYE VIEW

  LIZARDS CLOSE IN

  AMAZING ANTS

  BUGS FIGHT BACK

  FANG MOUNTAIN

  REAL LIFE BATTLE BUGS!

  PREVIEW – BATTLE BUGS 2: THE SPIDER SIEGE

  COPYRIGHT

  Max Darwin held his breath. Two fearsome barbed pincers appeared over the top of the garden wall. The creature’s head followed, its feelers waving in the air, hunting for prey. Finally, a gleaming black body pulled itself into view, grasping the wall with six hooked legs.

  Wow! A stag beetle! Max thought, his eyes level with the beetle’s enormous jaws. There were thirty different species of stag beetle in the United States, but Max had never seen one in the wild before. Hardly daring to breathe, he crept forward for a closer look, but the insect must have spotted him. Opening the hard black casing on its back, the beetle spread its wings and whirred away into the evening sky. Max watched until it was just a tiny dot. He couldn’t wait to add it to his insect records.

  Max loved insects. He kept a notebook filled with facts about all the bugs he observed in the garden and yard. The stag beetle was his most interesting find yet.

  “Max!” Mom called to him from inside the house. “Where are you? Come and see what I got for you!”

  Max’s mom worked at an auction house, and sometimes she brought home unusual things that they couldn’t sell. Max never knew what to expect. One time she’d brought him an old pocket watch, and once she’d even given him a suit of armor!

  Max jumped up, pulling a handful of leaves off the oak tree for his pet walking sticks, and then raced back through the overgrown garden. His mom was sitting at the kitchen table. In front of her lay an old book with a battered leather cover.

  “Take a look,” she said with a smile.

  On the front cover was a picture of a golden scorpion, its stinger raised like a dagger above its head. The title letters were a faded gold, too.

  “The Complete Encyclopedia of Arthropods,” Max read. “Wow! Thanks!”

  “What is an arthropod, anyway?” Mom asked, pushing the book toward him.

  “An animal with a skeleton on the outside of its body,” said Max quickly. “Like insects, and spiders, and scorpions, and centipedes. And even lobsters. Where did the book come from?”

  “That old mansion on the edge of town was being cleaned out,” said Mom. “The book had fallen behind one of the shelves in the library. It had probably been there for years—it was covered in dust.”

  Max wondered who had been the last person to read it, all those years ago. The book seemed even more special now that he knew where it came from.

  “Cool!” he exclaimed, stroking the worn leather with his fingertips.

  “I had a feeling you’d like it,” Mom said. “No wonder, it’s full of bugs!” She ruffled his spiky hair. “Take it up to your room, if you want, while I make dinner. I can see you can’t wait to get your nose into it.”

  “Thanks, Mom.” Max grinned and picked up the heavy book in both hands. He rushed out of the kitchen and upstairs.

  Max’s bedroom was crawling with bugs. Rubber spiders dangled from the ceiling, a row of plastic beetles stood on the windowsill, and the walls were covered with posters of tarantulas, scorpions, dragonflies, and caterpillars. The only real bugs, though, were Max’s walking sticks, which sat nearly as still as the plastic ones, almost impossible to spot inside their glass case among the twigs and leaves. Max had named them Oak, Ivy, and Rose, after their favorite foods.

  Max opened the top of their cage and hurriedly put the leaves in, so they could eat when they woke up at dusk. Then, barely able to contain his excitement, he took the encyclopedia to his desk and opened it. On the inside of the leather cover, there was a pocket with a magnifying glass tucked inside. Cool, Max thought. He started to turn the old, yellowed pages carefully. They were packed with facts about all sorts of amazing creatures—long-necked assassin bugs, huge-bellied trap-door spiders, giant centipedes—and there was a detailed drawing of each one. The pictures were so lifelike that the bugs looked as if they were about to crawl out of the book!

  Across the two pages in the middle of the book, there was a map of a blue sea scattered with islands. Next to each island was a different picture: a tiny palm tree, a bird, or an animal. Max squinted and leaned in closer to one that was marked with a black scorpion. Something was written on the island next to the scorpion’s curved tail, but the letters were too small to read. Then Max remembered the magnifying glass and flicked through the pages until he reached the inside cover. He took the magnifying glass from the pocket. It was much older and heavier than the one inside the Bug Finder Kit he’d gotten for Christmas. The handle was wooden, worn smooth where it fitted his hand, and engraved at the end was an insect head with curling feelers. Max hastily turned back to the map. Peering through the magnifying glass, he could just figure out the words next to the scorpion, written in black, curly letters.

  “Bug Island,” he whispered. “Wow. I wish I could go there …”

  As he said the words, Max felt a strange tingling in the tips of his toes. Then the room started to swirl around him, making him dizzy. It was worse than the time he’d ridden the Death Loop roller coaster three times in a row. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to breathe normally, but it was no use. His stomach flipped over, and for a moment he felt like he was falling. Then, as suddenly as it had started, the funny feeling stopped.

  “That was weird,” said Max, opening his eyes. Then he rubbed them in disbelief. He wasn’t in his bedroom. He wasn’t even in his house. He was sitting on damp ground, in the middle of a forest! Above him towered a tall tree with a smooth trunk. Except … Max frowned. The trunk was thick and bright green, with lots of thin branches sticking out of it.

  What a funny tree, he thought. He looked up to see if he could tell what kind it was from the leaves and branches, and gasped in surprise. Instead of leaves, all he could see were huge white petals, surrounding a great yellow circle. It wasn’t a tree—it was a giant daisy!

  Max’s heart began to pound as he stood up and looked around. Beyond the gigantic flower was a real tree—the biggest he’d ever seen. Its rough bark seemed to go up and up for miles, as high and wide as a skyscraper.

  “It’s as if everything somehow got bigger,” Max said to himself. “Or,” he murmured with a gulp, “I got smaller. But how could that be?”

  Max looked down and noticed he was still holding the magnifying glass.

  As he stared at it, Max heard a strange thumping sound, like heavy footsteps. He shoved the magnifying glass into his pocket and listened hard. The footsteps were getting louder. No, not louder, Max realized. Closer …

  The earth under Max’s feet trembled slightly. Whatever was making the footsteps was big. Very big. And it was heading his way! Max felt a cold shiver creep down his spine. He ducked behind the giant flower. For a few seconds, the footsteps got even louder. Then they stopped.

  Max held his breath and peeked around the stem. On the other side was an enormous creature. As Max watched, it scuttled sideways on eight jointed legs, waving a pair of huge, vicious-looking pincers.

  Max gasped. It was a scorpion more than twice his size! The giant creature loomed over him, its sharp, curved stinger ready to strike!

  Max jumped sideways as the scorpion’s stinger stabbed down toward him. He gasped in horror as it crashed into the very spot he’d been standing on only seconds before.

  Run! a voice in Max’s head screamed. He had to get out of there before the
scorpion could attack again. He knew only too well how dangerous a scorpion’s venom could be. A line from his latest copy of Bugs Weekly magazine popped into his head.

  “The first effect of the deadliest scorpion sting is intense, unbearable pain.”

  He raced through the blades of grass that stretched above his head, jumping over the log-like twigs that littered the forest floor and dodging fallen leaves that were bigger than he was.

  “Next comes sickness and fever.”

  He ran in a zigzag, hoping to confuse the scorpion.

  “And then, finally, death.”

  Max could hear the thud of the scorpion’s feet on the ground as it chased him, getting closer and closer and louder and louder with every step.

  The air was hot and sticky, and soon Max was out of breath. He wracked his brains, trying to remember what else his magazine had said about scorpions.

  “Scorpions move very swiftly and can climb most surfaces.”

  So there was no point trying to escape up a tree. Not that Max was big enough to climb one of the skyscraper trees anyway. Even the gnarled roots that twisted over the surface of the forest floor rose far above his head. But maybe I can climb under one of the roots and hide where the scorpion’s pincers can’t reach? he thought.

  Max decided it was his only chance. Summoning all his remaining energy, he raced toward a tangle of tree roots. He had almost made it, but then disaster struck. He lost his footing on the mossy ground and went flying. He scrambled up as quickly as he could, but it was too late—the scorpion was standing over him, its razor-sharp pincers snapping.

  This is it, thought Max. I’m going to be eaten alive by a giant scorpion. He closed his eyes and waited, his heart beating against his ribs.

  “What are you doing here, little lizard?” rasped a voice.

  Very slowly Max opened his eyes. The scorpion was still there. It was clicking one claw open and shut, and waving the other one threateningly. Very cautiously, Max looked around to see who had spoken.

  “Well?” asked the scratchy voice.

  Max’s mouth fell open. It was the scorpion who had spoken! For a moment he could only stare at it.

  “Why are you here?” the scorpion demanded.

  “I d-don’t know. I don’t even know where I am,” stammered Max, not quite believing he was actually having a real-life conversation with a scorpion. “And I’m not a lizard, I’m a human being.”

  “A what being?” The scorpion took a couple of steps sideways.

  “A human being,” said Max.

  “What’s that?” The scorpion’s huge jaws opened and closed as it spoke, revealing a cavernous hole of a mouth. “You don’t have many legs, so you can’t be one of us. And what’s that stuff on your head?”

  Baffled, Max put his hand up to his head. “Oh, that,” he said. “It’s hair.”

  “It’s haaaaaaaair,” the scorpion repeated slowly, as if hearing the word for the very first time. Its eight eyes glittered. “You’re the strangest little thing I’ve ever seen,” it said. “What am I going to do with you?”

  It paused for a moment, staring at Max. Then, with a sudden lunging motion, it grasped him firmly around the middle with its pincer. Max cried out as he was lifted into the air, over the scorpion’s head, and placed firmly on its back.

  “Hold on tight,” said the scorpion.

  “What are you doing? Where are you taking me?” Max asked, trying to sound braver than he felt.

  “We’re going to see Barton. He’ll know what to do,” the scorpion said, snapping its pincers together. Then it turned and broke into a jerky run. Its back was made of hard segments, like armor plating. Max grabbed on to the edge of one of the plates to keep from falling off. Then he glanced behind him nervously to check where the creature’s stinger was. The huge bulb, with its sharp barb, curled above him. The stinger was just like a claw, curved at the end and sharp as a knife. The segments of the tail fit perfectly together, like the metal plates on the suit of armor Max’s mom gave him. Max stared at it in amazement. He was sure that no one had ever looked at a scorpion’s stinger while sitting on its back before. Despite the danger, Max couldn’t help feeling excited. I’m riding on a giant, talking scorpion! he thought in amazement.

  Now that he wasn’t quite so afraid of being eaten, Max had time to examine the rest of the scorpion more closely. He could see that its pincers were fat, not thin, which meant that it wasn’t one of the most venomous species. Its shiny, armored skin was as black as coal.

  It must be an emperor scorpion, thought Max. Emperors were the largest type of scorpion in the world. If Max was at his normal size, the scorpion would be as big as his hand—but now that he was tiny, it seemed the size of a horse!

  Max peeked out between the creature’s pincers, which it held in the air as it galloped through the tall blades of grass. Bright flowers bloomed all around, and towered over them. Max could make out vast bushes with thick, leathery green leaves. Warm, damp air rushed into his face as the scorpion scrambled over a rotting branch as long and high as an eighteen-wheeler. It was like being in the coolest video game ever invented. But as they reached the other side, the scorpion stopped suddenly, nearly causing Max to go flying through its pincers.

  A large creature blocked their path. Its brown, scaly skin gleamed in the dappled sunlight. Beady eyes stared straight into Max’s, and a forked tongue flicked from its mouth, tasting the air. From the folds and blotches on its skin, it didn’t take Max long to figure out what it was.

  An alligator lizard, he thought with a gulp. A huge alligator lizard that likes to eat scorpions. And it’s looking very hungry …

  The lizard’s tongue shot from its mouth like a whip. Then, slowly, it lumbered forward. Max held his breath. It was gigantic. The ground shook with every stamp of its big, clawed feet.

  “How nice of you to drop in,” it hissed, “just in time for dinner.”

  Max gulped. From where he was sitting, the lizard looked as big as a dinosaur. It could easily win a battle against the scorpion. As for the tiny human being on its back …

  “Back off, you scaly bully,” said the scorpion. It raised its stinger threateningly, ready to strike. The stinger’s pointed tip was hanging right next to Max’s head, a bead of white venom on the end. Max edged away from it, lying down as flat as he could and peering over the scorpion’s eyes.

  The lizard hissed. “I don’t like it when my snacks fight back,” it spat. It advanced again, backing the scorpion up against the branch they’d just climbed.

  Max knew that the emperor scorpion was well armed. Its huge, powerful pincers and venomous stinger made it a dangerous enemy. But the lizard’s scaly skin would be far too thick and tough for the scorpion’s stinger to pierce.

  There has to be some way out of this, Max thought, his heart pounding. Maybe the scorpion can outrun it? He looked at the lizard’s powerful legs, and swallowed hard. Scorpions could run fast, but the alligator lizard looked quick, too, and it wasn’t carrying a passenger.

  The lizard opened its mouth, showing its sharp, pointed teeth, and suddenly leaped forward. Max clung on tightly as the scorpion scuttled to the side, dodging out of the lizard’s reach.

  The lizard turned slowly to face them, its yellow eyes glittering. Once again, it stepped closer. Then it stopped and tipped its head to one side.

  “What do you have on your back?” it asked curiously.

  Max looked up to see that the lizard was staring straight at him. The scales on its flat, crocodile-like head were all the same size, except around its nostrils, where they were smaller and darker. Suddenly, Max remembered something.

  “Quick!” he whispered to the scorpion. “His scales are weaker around his nostrils! Use your pincers there!”

  “Stop that whispering!” bellowed the lizard. “What sort of thing are you, anyway?”

  Max glared back at the lizard. “I’m his secret weapon!” he shouted.

  And with that the scorpion darted forward, taki
ng the reptile by surprise. Before it could react, the scorpion snapped one of its pincers onto the lizard’s nose. The lizard gave a high-pitched hiss and backed away, twisting its head in pain.

  “Let’s go!” shouted Max.

  The scorpion charged around the lizard as it retreated, holding a clawed foot to its injured snout. But Max knew they weren’t out of danger yet. The lizard might still come after them. And if it did, it would be even angrier than before.

  The scorpion seemed to have realized this, too, because it was running as fast as its legs could carry it. “Thanks for the tip,” it shouted back to Max.

  “Any time,” said Max.

  “But how did you know what to do?” The scorpion sounded puzzled. “Are you sure you’re not a lizard?”

  “Yes!” Max grinned. “I don’t have any scales, and I’m not cold-blooded.” He shut his eyes and held on tightly as they rushed along. “I saw it on my favorite TV show—World of Bugs on the Nature Channel.”

  “On the whatery what?” asked the scorpion, sounding confused.

  Max realized then that the scorpion had probably never watched TV.

  “I once saw a scorpion defending itself from a lizard that way,” he explained.

  “It’s a good idea. I never would have thought of it,” said the scorpion admiringly. “I thought we were going to be eaten for sure. I’m Spike, by the way.”

  “I’m Max.”

  “I think we lost him, Max,” said Spike happily, glancing behind him. “Well, we better get back to camp ASAP. Barton will be wondering where I am.”

  Max held on tight as they raced through tall grass that nearly knocked him off Spike’s back and they clambered over the huge leaves and twigs that covered the forest floor. After what felt like hours, Spike began to slow down. Max started to feel nervous again. Spike seemed friendly, but Max couldn’t be sure. Emperor scorpions had up to thirty hungry babies at a time, which rode around on their mother’s back just like he was doing on Spike’s now. Perhaps Spike was taking him home for supper—and he was going to be on the menu!